to the east on
reaching the eighth degree of N. lat. Here they give rise to a number of
small rivers, which collect in the rift and form the Benue, the great
eastern affluent of the Niger. This part of the protectorate is known as
Adamawa (q.v.). Farther north, beyond the Mandara mountains, the
country, here part of the ancient sultanate of Bornu, slopes to the
shores of Lake Chad, and has a general level of 800 to 1000 ft. The
greater part of Cameroon is thus a mountainous country, with, on the
coast, a strip of low land. In the south this is very narrow; it widens
towards the north savewhere the Cameroon peak reaches to the sea.

At the foot of the Cameroon peak a number of estuaries cut deep bays
which form excellent harbours. The small rivers which empty into them
can be ascended for some miles by steam launches. The principal estuary,
which is over 20 m. wide, is called, as already noted, the Cameroon
river or bay. The term river is more particularly confined to a
ramification of the estuary which receives the waters of the Mungo river
(a considerable stream which flows south from the Cameroon mountains),
the Wuri, a river coming from the north-east, and various smaller
rivers. Under the shadow of Cameroon peak lies the bay of Ambas, with
the islands of Ndami (Ambas) and Mondola. It forms a tolerable harbour,
capable of receiving large vessels.

Traversing the central portion of the country is a large river known in
its upper course as the Lom, and in its lower as the Sanaga, which
enters the ocean just to the south of the Cameroon estuary. Both the Lom
and the Nyong (a more southerly stream) rise in the central plateau,
from which they descend in splendid cascades, breaking through the
parallel coast range in rapids, which indicate the extent of their
navigability. The Lokunja and Kribi are smaller rivers with courses
parallel to and south of the Nyong. In the south-east of the colony the
streams--of which the chief are the Dscha and Bumba--are tributaries of
the Sanga, itself an affluent of the Congo (q.v.). About 100 m. of the
right bank of the Sanga, from the confluence of the Dscha upwards, are
in German territory. In the north the country drains into Lake Chad
through the Logone and Shari (q.v.). Including the headwaters of the
Benue the colony has four distinct river-systems, one connecting with
the Niger, another with the Congo, and a third with Lake Chad, the
fourth being the rivers which run direct to th